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Friday, 23 January 2009

WDYTYA Live - Scottish Saturday

A very last minute development from the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event is the announcement that the second day of the programme is now apparently to be branded as "Scottish Saturday". There is very little change to the event on that day save for the fact that a band called Celtic Spirit will be playing, though the good news is that both the National Archives of Scotland and ScotlandsPeople appear to have now signed up to come to London's Olympia. However, it is no exaggeration to say that there appears to be fewer Scottish vendors participating at the event this year, with no family history societies from Scotland at all, although the Scottish Genealogy Society will be there to fly the flag. For more information, click on the link - Scottish Saturday.Chriswww.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.ukScotland's Greatest Story Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

The programme of 'workshops' for Saturday includes 5 with a Scottish theme, but they are timetabled rather oddly - Bruce Durie's talk on house histories clashes with 2 of the others, so you can't go to all of them.

Makes no difference to me, though, because I can't get to any of them; I'll be there all day, but I'm working!

I'll be there also, working on Bob Blatchford's stall promoting the Family and Local History Handbook, as well as the National Family History Fair at Gateshead later in the year. I know what you mean re: the timetable. To be honest though, last year I attended for two days, and never went to a single talk or lecture, I was too busy trying to catch up with what was new in genealogy! It literally took me two days to go around and talk to everyone - it's a BIG place!

For me, the talks and the celebrity events are great for newbies just starting out, but it's not really why I am going down. I suspect 'Scottish Saturday' is a last minute brainwave on the back of Homecoming Scotland which someone has probably just realised is happening. There are fewer Scottish vendors this year than last, I suspect as a combination of the fact that this year's event is in the same financial year as the last, and because of the sheer distance involved to get to London. It does look like anyone seeking specific Scottish assistance is going to be disadvantaged, but that is not to say there wont be a great deal there of value to those with Scots ancestry from the 'British' vendors (eg TNA etc). It's great to see SP and NAS signing up, as I had believed they weren't coming, but I am slighly bemused at the Scottish Saturday thing really!

Please God, no shortbread or sword dancing, though if they're offering freebie samples of Laphroaig 10 year old, they can make 'Scottish Saturday' an annual event as far as I am concerned! :)